According to an old but not well-authenticated tradition, the dead body of James IV. of Scotland was brought to Sheen for interment after the fatal battle of Flodden Field, remaining in the monastery, however, unhouselled and unassoiled, though protected from decay by being wrapt in lead amongst a quantity of lumber in an upper chamber until 1552—a date, by the way, long after the dissolution of the religious houses—when it was found by some workpeople, who cut off the head to give it to a glazier in Queen Elizabeth's employ, and buried the rest of the remains. In 1539 the monks of Sheen wisely evaded the penalties of resistance to the high-handed proceedings of Henry VIII. by voluntarily surrendering their property to him, and although later Queen Mary reinstated them in their old home, they were again banished by her successor. Meanwhile the monastery had been occupied, first by Edward, Earl of Hertford, brother of Jane Seymour, to whom the estate had been granted by her husband, and later by the father of Lady Jane Grey, Henry, Duke of Suffolk, after whose death on the scaffold in 1554 it reverted to the Crown, by whom it was leased to successive tenants, passing in 1675 to Lord Brouncker and the more celebrated diplomatist and historian, Sir William Temple, the former taking possession of the Priory, the latter of a smaller house near by. It was to Sir William Temple that were addressed the famous love-letters of Dorothy Osborne, who when she became his wife lived with him in what he called his 'little corner at Sheen,' sharing his interest in the cultivation of his gardens, which became celebrated far and near for the vegetables and fruit grown in them.

It was at Sheen that Jonathan Swift, who was for some years secretary to Sir William Temple, first met his beloved 'Stella,' Hester Johnston, who was born on the estate, and is said to have been the daughter of its owner. Whether this be true or not, her education was entrusted by Sir William to Swift, and it was to her that the latter addressed the Journal, which is considered one of his most remarkable works. Soon after his accession to the English throne, William III., who had seen a good deal of Sir William Temple when the owner of the 'little corner at Sheen' was ambassador at the Hague, offered him the post of Secretary of State, and though the appointment was declined, the king used often to ride over from Hampton Court to stroll about in the Sheen gardens, when he and his host would discuss together, now affairs of vital importance to the kingdom, now the best soil in which to grow different varieties of fruit. Swift was generally in attendance at these meetings, and is said to have been taught by the royal guest how to cook vegetables in the Dutch style. Possibly little Hester, still a mere child, may have shared the royal instructions, that were continued at Moor Park, to which her reputed father withdrew in 1689, giving over the Sheen home to his only surviving son, John Temple. After the death of the new tenant, who had been made Secretary for War, but committed suicide four days afterwards in despair of being able to cope with the onerous duties of his office, Sir William took a great dislike to his once beloved property, and never again visited it. Meanwhile Lord Brouncker had passed away, and after changing hands many times, the monastery buildings, as well as the house that had been owned by Sir William Temple, were pulled down in the early eighteenth century, with the exception of one gateway belonging to the former, which was still standing in 1769, when it too was removed, because it interfered with the so-called improvements being made by George III. on his Kew estate. The hamlet, that owed its existence to the monastery, was also swept away, but its name is preserved in those of the suburb of East Sheen, the road leading to it and one of the gates of Richmond Park, near to which, amongst the many modern villas that have recently sprung up, still remain some few stately old mansions, notably that known as Temple Grove, that was once the home of Sir John, brother of Sir William Temple.

The House of Jesus of Bethlehem was not the only monastery founded at Sheen by Henry V., for he also endowed a home for some French monks of the Celestine order, but it was hardly completed before he sent the inmates back to their own land and confiscated the property, because he discovered on a surprise visit he paid them that his name was not mentioned in their prayers. Later, Edward II. built a convent at Sheen for Carmelite, and Henry VII. one for Observant friars, but the career of both was short, for the former was soon removed to Oxford and the latter was suppressed in 1534, though a building near the palace was long known as the Friary, whilst the memory of what must have been a very important community is still preserved in the names of Friars' Lane, leading down to the river, and Friar Stile Road in Upper Richmond.

Richmond Lodge

The house in which Dean Colet passed away, that was confiscated with the rest of the monastery estate by Henry VIII., became known as the Lodge, and it was to it that Cardinal Wolsey was ordered to withdraw, as related above, on his last sad visit to Richmond. It was later successively leased to various tenants, and granted in the early eighteenth century to James, Duke of Ormond, who rebuilt or greatly added to it, residing in it till his impeachment in 1715, when it passed to his brother, the Earl of Arran, who sold it to the Prince of Wales, later George II., who was living in it with his wife, the Princess Caroline, when in 1727 the news of the death of his father was brought to him by Sir Robert Walpole. The new king gave the Lodge to the queen, who spent a great deal of money on it, laying out the grounds in a lavish fashion, and causing many extraordinary buildings to be erected in them, including a fantastic structure known as Merlin's Cave, a hermitage, a grotto, and a dairy. It was in this beloved retreat that Sir Walter Scott in his Heart of Midlothian laid the scene of the interview between Jeanie Deans and Queen Caroline that he prefaces with an eloquent description of Richmond Hill as it then was, and the inimitable view from it. After the death of Queen Caroline the Lodge was deserted for some little time, and in 1760 her grandson, George III., pulled it down, destroyed the beautiful terrace overlooking the river, and had the grounds ploughed up to add them to the grazing-grounds of his sheep and cattle, leaving not a trace of a home that was once as favourite a royal residence as the palaces of Richmond and Kew, though the Old Deer Park in which it stood, where archery, hockey, and other open-air competitions are now held, still seems to be haunted by the spirits of those who lived in it.

Richmond Town

Of the many other fine old mansions that were long the pride of Richmond, few, alas, now remain. Gone, for instance, is Fitzwilliam House that fronted the green, in which George II. was the guest of Sir Matthew Decker on the day when he was proclaimed king, and where its noble former owner formed the priceless collection of rare books, illuminated missals, etc., bequeathed by him to Cambridge and preserved in the Fitzwilliam Museum. Vanished, too, is the famous 'High walk' or 'terras on arches' that stretched from where the Vicarage now stands to one of the entrances to the grounds of the Lodge, and was a favourite promenade of the frequenters of the Richmond spa, which enjoyed a brief popularity in the early eighteenth century, as is also the humble group of houses known as Poverty Court, that were at one time occupied by some of the poorer members of the nobility. The great block of buildings erected in 1798 on part of the site of the old palace by the Earl of Cholmondeley, that later became associated with the notorious Earl of Queensberry, familiarly called 'Old O.,' in which the Prince of Wales, later George IV., and Mrs. Fitzherbert, the Duke of Clarence, later William IV., and Horace Walpole were amongst the many distinguished guests, was pulled down in 1830 and replaced by the modern villa that bears its name, though it is but a poor representative of its predecessor. Fortunately, however, between the fine bridge that replaced the ancient ferry in 1774 and Petersham, still stand facing the river and preserving much of the character of days gone by, several noteworthy survivals of the royal borough's palmy days, including the picturesque Bridge-House built by Sir Robert Taylor in the middle of the eighteenth century; the so-called Trumpeter's House, also known as the 'Old Palace,' a characteristic Queen Anne building with a pretentious porch, that owes its singular name to two figures of trumpeters that used to stand on either side of the entrance, Ivy Hall, the residence of William IV. when Duke of Clarence; Gothic House, long the home of the cultivated Madame de Staël-Holstein, daughter of the astute French minister Necker; and Buccleuch House, where Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, with many other members of the royal family, were the guests of the then owner in June 1844 at an open-air fête, when the river presented a scene almost as brilliant as in the days of Henry VIII. or Elizabeth.

Fortunately, the general aspect of Richmond Green, that when the palace was occupied by royalty was the scene of many a brilliant pageant, and later of many a hotly contested game of cricket, in which the chief experts of the day took part, is but little changed from what it was two centuries ago. Its wooden palings have been replaced by iron ones bearing the monogram of William IV., and the old sundial that long occupied its centre has been removed, but its limits have not been curtailed. It has a delightful old-world look about it, and there is nothing incongruous with it in the new buildings of the Free Library, or in the modern theatre associated with the name of Edmund Kean, who was at one time its lessee, that replaces, though on another site, the eighteenth-century building in which David Garrick and Mrs. Siddons are said to have acted, and that was the successor of a yet earlier one founded by the poet-laureate Colley Cibber. The narrow alleys leading from the town to the time-honoured Green are also thoroughly in keeping with it, and here and there a venerable red-brick mansion amongst the more modern buildings surrounding it redeems the ancient borough from the commonplace. The parish school and dust-bin, with the open refuse-heap that long occupied the site of the present crescent; the old watch-house that looked down upon them, with the adjacent pound and stocks, have all been improved away; but the houses of Heron, originally Herring Court, named probably after a former owner, in one of which Lord Lytton was often the guest of his brother, those in Ormond Road where dwelt the poetess Mrs. Hofland, Lichfield House, now the residence of the novelist Mrs. Maxwell (Miss Braddon), and Egerton House opposite to it, still strike the note of the past, that echoes also in the poetic name of the district known as the Vineyard, recalling the days when vines flourished on the slopes of Richmond Hill, and the almshouses of Sir Richard Wright and Bishop Duppa—both founded in the seventeenth century, though the latter was only transferred to its present site in 1852—received their first inmates. No longer do the shouts of the bargemen, who used to be harnessed to their crafts in groups of eight, tout for hire in Water Lane, and the quaint cry 'Man to horse!' by which their customers hailed them, clash with the shrill horn of the stagecoach that started for London twice a day, but at the junction of the Lane with King Street still stands part of the ancient Feather's Inn, once a noted place of resort of the beau monde, and not far from it is the little old-fashioned shop known as the Maid of Honour, because in it were sold the celebrated cakes bearing that name. Passed away, leaving no trace, however, are the Blue Anchor, Black Boy, and Queen Anne's inns, but near the summit of the famous hill, looking down upon the river, is the fine residence called Cardigan House, once the property of the earl whose name it bears, in the grounds of which is the medicinal spring near to which was erected in 1696 a place of entertainment called Richmond Wells, that was very much frequented until in 1696 the property was bought by two straight-laced maiden ladies named Houblin, who quickly put a stop to the gay gatherings that used to assemble in the theatre by having it pulled down.

Richmond Hill

Beyond Cardigan House are the beautiful public gardens occupying the site of Lansdowne House and part of the Buccleuch estate that were laid out after the designs of Sir Frederick, later Lord Leighton, and were opened in 1866, and a little higher up on the brow of the hill is the world-famous terrace, the view from which has been eloquently described again and again in poetry and prose, and has been made the subject of many a well-known painting. With Petersham Wood and village and the winding river in the foreground, it embraces the valley of the Thames as far as Windsor Castle, that can be distinctly seen on a clear day, and the distant Surrey hills varying in character with the season of the year, but ever full of fascination and inspiration to those who are able to appreciate its charm. Again and again the public have been threatened with the loss of the unique privilege of enjoying this unrivalled prospect, now one, now another of its exquisite details that has fallen into the market having been marked for destruction by the speculative builder, but in almost every case rescue has come sometimes at the very last moment by the intervention of some generous individual who has snatched the prey from the destroyer, as when in 1900 Sir Max Waechter bought the beautiful Petersham Ait or Glovers Islet and presented it to the Richmond Corporation. On the river side of the famous terrace are two massive-looking eighteenth-century mansions that, but for the memories associated with them, would be better away, known as the Wick, occupying the site of the Bull's Head Tavern and Wick House, the latter, though now considerably altered, originally designed by Sir William Chambers for Sir Joshua Reynolds, who lived in it for some years, receiving there many of his celebrated sitters, and more than once painting the view from its windows. At the end of the terrace—nearly opposite the entrance to Queen's Road, named after Queen Caroline, that was a century ago a mere muddy thoroughfare called Black Horse Lane—is the famous Star and Garter Hotel, that occupies the site of several earlier buildings, two of which were destroyed by fire. The first inn of the name—that commemorates the Earl of Dysart, a knight of the noble Order of Chivalry founded by Edward III., who owned the ground on which it stood—was built in 1738, and was but one of several hostelries dotted about near what was then known as the High Walk on the Green, amongst which was possibly a predecessor of the one opposite the picturesque modern Wesleyan College, named after the Lass o' Richmond Hill, about whom there has been so much amusing controversy, but whose identity has never yet been satisfactorily determined, some saying that she was Mrs. Fitzherbert, who at one time lived on the terrace, others that she was Lady Sarah Lennox, one of several ladies to whom George III. paid court before he married Queen Charlotte, whilst a few north-country sceptics declare that she was a rustic beauty of the Yorkshire Richmond.